History of Three Kingdoms 2

Dong Zhuo's Chaos

Liu Hong(刘宏), Emperor Ling of Han（168-189AD汉灵帝） had two sons, Liu Bian（刘辩）, the first son, and Liu Xie（刘协）, the second son.

Because Liu Bian's birth mother was Empress He（何皇后）, the sister of the General-in-Chief ,He Jin（何进）, and Liu Xie's birth mother was of a lower status, there was no doubt that Liu Bian, who was both the legitimate son and the eldest son, would succeed to the throne, but Liu Hong, the Emperor Ling of Han, preferred his youngest son, Liu Xie, and was therefore hesitant to choose the crown prince.

As the brother of Empress He, He Jin of course hoped that his own nephew, Liu Bian, would be able to assume the throne without any problems, while the eunuchs represented by Jian Shuo(蹇硕) were afraid that the power of the Consort kin would become bigger as a result, and so they turned to support Liu Xie Because the eunuchs were too powerful, the forces of the Consort kin, represented by He Jin, and the forces of the bureaucrats, represented by Yuan Shao(袁绍), moved toward union Both sides are in a dueling stance.

In April 189 A.D., at the age of 33, Liu Hong, the Emperor Ling of Han, died in Lo yang. Liu Hong's death shattered the already weak balance between the two factions Jian Shuo wanted to lure He Jin into the palace and kill him to support Liu Xie's ascension to the throne, but the plan was leaked and He Jin escaped, so Liu Bian, the eldest and legitimate son , at the age of 14, was able to ascend to the throne ,who is called the Emperor Shao of Han（189AD汉少帝）.

After Liu Bian's accession to the throne, his birth mother Empress He was honored as the Empress Dowager, and He Jin took control of the court as he wished.

At this time, Yuan Shao had become the main strategist of He Jin, and under the conspiracy of them, Jian Shuo was arrested and killed. Yuan Shao also persuaded He Jin that he should take advantage of the victory to pursue the attack and kill all the eunuchs. He Jin agreed to Yuan Shao's plan, but Empress Dowager He objected to it.

Seeing that the plan could not be carried out, Yuan Shao came up with the bad idea of summoning Dong Zhuo（董卓）, the Provincial governor of Bingzhou（a province in the central noth） , to bring troops to the capital to threaten Empress Dowager He to follow them.

Seeing that the disaster was approaching, "the Ten Attendants", represented by the eunuch Zhang Rang(张让), decided to strike first. They ambushed He Jin in the palace and killed him, and once He Jin was dead, the situation could no longer be controlled. Upon learning of this, Yuan Shao ,Yuan Shu（Yuan Shao’s younger brother,but doesn't get along with him） and others, immediately led their troops into the palace and killed all of the 2000 eunuchs, young and old.

Only Emperor Liu Bian and Liu Xie ,the Prince of Chenliu(陈留,a name of a commandery in Yuzhou,in central plain), who had been abducted by a handful of eunuchs, such as Zhang Rang, escaped to the bank of Yellow River.

Seeing that there was no way out, the eunuchs collectively threw themselves into the river. Soon after Dong Zhuo, who was stationed in the west of Luoyang, heard the news, he immediately led 3,000 soldiers to arrive in time, and surrounded Liu Bian and Liu Xie, and drove into Luoyang with great vigor!

As a result, the power of the consort kin and eunuchs, who had been ruling the country for a long time, died together, and a power vacuum appeared in the Eastern Han Empire, while Dong Zhuo was appointed as the Chancellor of Constructions(司空) and took advantage of the opportunity to take control of the imperial government.

After entering the capital, Dong Zhuo quickly integrated the General-in-Chief He Jin's generals and soldiers, and many good generals followed Dong Zhuo at this time, such as Zhang Liao(张辽), and then he lured Lyu Bu(吕布) to kill Ding Yuan丁原, who was the Chief of the Capital Guard, and annexed Ding Yuan's troops, so that his power could be expanded rapidly.

Dong Zhuo is from Lintao county,Longxi commandery（陇西郡临洮县，in present-day Gansu甘肃）, his father was a commandant, so he belongs to the landlord of the common people's family origin, not a powerful family, during his military career in the Liangzhou(凉州a province in the northwest) area , he was promoted repeatedly by virtue of his war achievements and gradually grew to become a warlord, so Yuan Shao as the representative of the powerful scholarly clans, they are very contemptuous of him!

So in order to build up his prestige, Dong Zhuo was tempted to depose the emperor. In September 189 AD, Dong Zhuo summoned all the officials and announced that he would depose the emperor Shao of Han,Liu Bian, and supported the 9-year-old Liu Xie, the prince of Chenliu, as the emperor, which was Emperor Xian of Han(189-220AD汉献帝) .

Soon after, Empress Dowager He, who had lost the protection of the consort kin force, and Liu Bian ,the mother and the son, were poisoned and killed by Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo likes to read, understands the art of war, has good cultural literacy, and is not a reckless man or a political idiot. His idea was to establish a new dynastic order through institutional reform, so he enlisted many famous scholars from bureaucratic landlords, such as Xun Shuang（荀爽a famous scholar of eastern Han）, Xun Yu's(荀彧,famous scholar,Cao Cao’s most important Subordinate and partner) uncle, Yang Biao（杨彪from one of the most powerful clan in Eastern Han）, Yang Xiu's father（杨修,a counsellor of Wei）, and Cai Yong(蔡邕Famous minister of the Eastern Han , literary scholar and calligrapher), were all promoted, and even Wang Yun（王允）, Chancellor of Masses（司徒）, was promoted by Dong Zhuo at this time.

At the same time, Dong Zhuo also selected a large number of famous scholars to serve as local governors and other important positions, such as: Han Fu（韩馥） as the Provincial Governor of Jizhou（冀州）, Liu Dai as the Provincial Governor of Yanzhou（兖州）, Kong Zhou（孔伷） as the Provincial Governor of Yuzhou（豫州）, Zhang Zi（张咨） as the Commanderial Governor of Nanyang , Kong Rong as the Commanderial Governor of Beihai（北海）, Ying Shao（应劭） as the Commanderial Governor of Taishan（泰山）, and Zhang Miao（张邈） as the Commanderial Governor of Chenliu.

Dong Zhuo even disregarded his former enmity and appointed Yuan Shao, who fled because of his disgust for Dong Zhuo, as the Commanderial Governor of Bohai（渤海） , Yuan Shu as the General of the Rear, Wang Kuang（王匡） as the Commanderial Governor of Henei（河内） , and Bao Xin（鲍信） as the Commanderial Governor of Jibei（济北） .

While we see the allied forces raising together to swear an oath to crusade against Dong Zhuo, few of us know that most of them actually gained their official positions only during the period of Dong Zhuo's rule. However, Dong Zhuo's background as a landlord of the commoner's family could never be changed, which destined that no matter how he tried to draw in and reuse them, the vast majority of bureaucrats from big families still despised him from their hearts and were not willing to cooperate with him.

This, coupled with the long years of military life, made Dong Zhuo develop a brutal character and often resort to strong-arm tactics, adding to his great loss of popularity.

The most critical point is that Dong Zhuo was too lenient with his men. Most of the Liangzhou soldiers under his command were very savage, and they often robbed the rich families in Luoyang, searched for property, and raped women. But Dong Zhuo did not make strict constraints on their behavior, which made many people, especially the powerful families in the city of Luoyang, very disappointed with Dong Zhuo.

Against this backdrop, Qiao Mao(桥瑁), the Commanderial Governor of Dongjun, forged a document from the three Councillors and requested the governors of whole country to send troops to rescue the emperor.

In the first month of 190 A.D., the heroes under the banner of the crusade against Dong Zhuo about to rise up, the late Han period formally entered the chaos of warlords, then Cao Cao ,Sun Jian and others, even seized the opportunity to clamor, and thus stood at the head of the tide of time

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